Migrate to Boot to SAN

[knolen]

We are trying to figure out the best way to migrate some HP c-class & p-class blades running Server 2003 & Server 2003 R2 from booting from their local drives to SAN storage. Has anyone done this before? If so, what worked for you?

Thanks for any help.

[Steven Clementi]

One way you might be able to do this... and no, I have not tried it, but the thought just popped into my head is...

1. Drop your HBA into the server, load drivers, multipath software (if needed) and reboot. make sure you use the "Boot from SAN" driver package for your HBA.

2. Create and Present a LUN of about the same size as your C: drive

3. In Windows, perform a software mirror with the C drive and the new lun.

4. Once the 2 drives are synced, shutdown and configure the hba bios to boot from the SAN lun. Remove the local disks and hold as a backup to reboot the server.


If I have some time, I might try this on one of my servers in the lab. I'll let you know how it works out. No guaranttee it will be anytime soon though.


Steven

[knolen]

Thanks. I'm actually in the middle of trying what you suggested now, but the server will not boot. Not sure if I've just missed a step or what.

I presented a LUN to the host, did a software mirror between C: and the LUN, let the mirror sync up, and then powered off the server. I then removed the local drives, configured the HBA to boot from the LUN. The server starts to boot, but hangs right after displaying a message saying attempting boot from hard drive. I know the zoning and HBA setup is correct because I used the same setup to install to a LUN during an earlier test.

If you're able to get it to work, please let me know.

[Steven Clementi]

Did you "enable" the bois on the hba?

Did you then tell it which lun to boot from?


Also, did you set the boot controller order?

Either disable the smart array, or move it to a later spot in the boot process, making sure the first hba is in the first spot.


Steven

[knolen]

I went in and checked and the BIOS is enabled for the HBA. I have used selectable boot in Fast!Util to choose the LUN I wish to boot from.

I also disabled the local drive controller in setup.

What happens now is the system hangs immediatley after displaying the message saying Attempting Boot From Hard Drive (C:).

[Uwe Zessin]

> make sure you use the "Boot from SAN" driver package

I don't think the use of these driver is responsible for your current problem - looks like a mis-setting in the servers BIOS, but I'd like to bring up this advisory. Otherwise your registry parameters might not be correct for normal operation:

c01443404 - HP StorageWorks EVA Disk Arrays - Microsoft Windows Boot from SAN Drivers

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&objectID=c01443404

[Stefan Fischer]

Did you ever solve this problem? I have exact the same problem on BL460c with LPe1105 HBA and Symmetrix Array on Windows 2003 R2 SP2. Have tryed to move Bootdisk with rdeploy or Windows mirroring. Both way's resulting in "Booting from Drive C:..." and nothing happens...

Thanks in advance!

[R Khan]

Hi,

I am in the process of trying this exercise and should have an update in a few days. Just wanted to know if any of you met with any success on this procedure.

I have also found the following link :

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/167045

This might explain the reason why this will not work - but I have to try it out to confirm this.

Was hoping for any feedback from any of those who have tried this out.

Thanks and regards.

[vertisunix]

Stumbled across this post as I had the same problem, albeit with Red Hat on my LUN.

I found out that going back to BIOS defaults solved my problems. I left Fast!Util untouched.

Diggind further I found out that the 'Boot Controller Order' is somehow very important. If it is:
1: Smart Array Controller
2: HBA 1
3: HBA 2
then it works. But if it is:
1: HBA 1
2: HBA 2
3: Smart Array Controller
then I get the same hangup as you described:
Attempting Boot From Hard Drive (C:)

Even ctrl-alt-del won't help there.

As I am using my local disks for swap only, there will not be any bootable partitions on it, hence the bios will try my HBA as it is my second option.

My conclusion: BIOS is buggy and a workaround is to put Smart Array Controller as 'preferred' boot disk.

[Sysgroup]

Hi all,

Have the same problem,

Attempting Boot From Hard Drive C and nothing else.

Tried to reset default settings in HBA Bios, but I really don't know about what doing next
;-(

Any help would be very appreciated


Proliant BL 460C G5
EVA 4400
Virtual Connect
Windows 2003 Server